DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A memorial marks the tree where a serious crash killed a Lakeside High School student in February.
Now a grand jury has indicted a teenage driver and the parents of one of the other survivors on serious charges.
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On Wednesday, Channel 2′s Courtney Francisco was there as DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston held a news conference discussing the latest in the case of Sophie Lekiachvili.
Lekiachvili was killed in a crash near Lakeside High School on Feb. 24. According to a police report, her friend, Hannah Hackemeyer, 18, was driving on Oak Grove Road when she lost control and crashed into a tree. The vehicle flipped over, trapping Lekiachvili.
On Wednesday, the DA’s office announced that Hackemeyer was indicted on several charges.
A DeKalb County grand jury indicted Sumanth Rao, 50, and Anindita Rao, 49, in connection to the deadly crash.
New court documents take a look beyond the crash site and memorials and blame the parents for the Lakeside High student’s death.
DA Boston said the parents allowed three teenagers to drink in their home before they crashed.
“Halloween homecoming the last day of school the Raos’ home was the party house,” Boston said.
DA Boston says in February, the Raos watched their daughter, Ananya, and her two friends, Hackemeyer and Lekiachvili, share a bottle of wine.
“The teens told Mr. Rao they wanted to go for a drive. Ananya’s parents knew the girls had been drinking but they still let them get into the car and leave the house with an open bottle of wine in the front seat,” Boston said.
Thirty minutes later, less than half a mile away the DA says the driver Hackemeyer crashed going 98 miles per hour, according to airbag data.
“She never tapped the brakes,” Boston explained.
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In April, the DA says her blood alcohol test came back twice the legal limit and that’s when police arrested her.
Hackemeyer, now officially faces 10 charges: three counts of homicide by vehicle, three counts of serious injury by vehicle, two counts of driving under the influence of alcohol under the age of 21, one count of reckless driving, and one count of possession of an open container of alcoholic beverage in passenger area.
And her friend’s parents are charged with three crimes.
“Hopefully the message is ringing loud and clear today,” Boston said.
Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen spoke to friends of Lekaichvili’s after the crash. They said she was one of the kindest people they’d ever known and that she planned to attend Auburn University.
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Lekiachvil is one of five Lakeside High School students killed in car crashes during the last school year.
In March, Channel 2 Action News talked to neighbors who told us they heard that a social media challenge could be involved.
Teens would reportedly drink, and then try to hit speeds of 100 miles per hour.
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